Submarine boat.



PATENTED APR. 28, 1903.

S. LAKE.

SUBMARINE BOAT.

APPLICATION 211.21) mm. 15, 1902.

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EEE t rfzfi W ITNEESEE No. 726,705. v PATENTED APR 28, 1903-.

S. LAKE. 1

SUBMARINE BOAT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15, 1902.

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-'S.?EOIFIGATION forming part No- 94,204.

Toad} whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, SIMON LAKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bridgeport,-in thecounty of Fairfiel'd and State of' Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Submarine Boats, of which the followingv is a specification.

This application is a division ofn y copending application, Serial No. 62,207,.filed May 90 v t Theiobject of the present improvement is .to adapt the normallybuoyant hull ofa sub marine boat to automaticallytmaintain a uni form distance from the water-bed or the surface, as may be desired, for operations connected more particularly with the requirements of naval warfare. /Vhen traveling upon or near the water-bed especially, it is importantthat the contact with the same or with any irregularities therein or obstructions thereupon should not be with the hull, which should be maintained a safe distance above thewaterbed, for which reason i have provided means wherehythe buoyancy may be automatically, either Wholly or partially, .l'estoredtemporarily to enable the huil to clear such uneven portions ofthe waterbod This result is attained, preferably, by the provision of a hydraulic cylinder having one end connected to a water-ballast tank or com partment and the other end exposed to the exterior of the vessel and provided with a piston or plunger connected with one end of a downwardly and rearwardlyinclinedswingingarm, of which the opposite end is adapted to contact with the water-bed'when the boat sinks to the .vicinity of the same, the fixed pivot or fulcrum-of said swin ing arm bein dis .osed

intermediate its ends. By this means not only is thecontact of the boat with the waterbed cushioned by reason of the yielding resistance of the external water upon the outer faceof said piston against the air within the connected waterballast compartment, but the outwardinovement of the latter against 4 such pressure, because of the yielding of the free end of the pivoted controlling-arm by its contact with the Water-bed, causes the expulsion oft-he external Water in the outer end of the. cylinder i'nfront of said piston, whereby the displacement of the boat is increasedfby letters 3?! 2 Original application filed May 28,1901, Serial Ho. 62,207. Di

us No. 72e,7o5, dated April '28, 1903.

application filed February 15, 1902. Serial sod and this (No model.)

the volume of such vacated space without of fecting a. corresponding increase of the volume of the water-ballast contained therein, and by reason of the increased buoyancy thus produced the boat iscaused to rest with less weight upon said pivoted arm or to actually rise temporarily from the water-bed in case such increased displacement should be suffioien t tocrea te buoyancy. In theUnited States Patent No. 650,758, granted to me May 29, 1900, devices were shown to provide for the yielding contact of such a vessel with the water-bed; but while such apparatus effectively served its purpose as a cushioning device to prevent any injurious efiect ofground swells and other conditions causing the rise and fall of the boat when normally resting lightly upon the waterbedits outwardlyopen hydraulic cylinder and piston operated inciden tally bya connection with its trailing acted by other conditions of the apparatus.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of asubmarino boat embodying my present improvements.

Fig. 2 isa sectional elevation showing the stern water ballastcontrolling apparatus,

upon a larger scale. to Fig. 2, showing a modification.

such tendencies being ultimately counter- Fig. 3 is a view similar The body or hull aof the boat may be caused k to travel close to the water-bed Without actual contact of its keel Z) therewith, and so follow all irregularities Withinits vertical plane of the surface of the latter at'a substantially uniform elevation above the'same by an automatic control of the displacement of the boat, as before indicated. For attaining this capability the boat is shown in' the drawings provided near each end with similar depth controlling devices; but as they are identical inaconstruction and arrangement with relation to the water-ballast tanks with which they'are respectively connected only the one in the stern portion is herein specifically described. This comprises a hydraulic cylinder 1, having its inner or upper end connected, by means of the pipe 2, with the three-way valve 3, from which one branch pipe 4 leads directly into the interior of the water-ballast compartment 6, while the other branch pipe 5 leads indirectly into the same compartment through the hydraulic pump 7. The piston 8 of the cylinder 1, the outer end or face of which is exposed to the exterior of the boat through the open lower or outer end of said cylinder, is connected, bymeans ofa link 9, to

one end of an arm or lever 10, pivoted intermediate its ends by a pin 11 Within a well i2 in the bottom of the boat and carrying at Lie free opposite end the bearing-roller 13. The inner sideof the .piston 8 is provided with a guide-rod 14, passing through a stuffing-box in the inner end of the cylinder and upwardly through an aperture inthe floor 15, where its upper end serves by its height to indicate the position of the piston in the cylder, and hence the relation of the degree of buoyancy at a given time to the initial buoyancy established by the water-supply in the ballast-tanks when the piston is in its normal position in the cylinder 1. When the piston is in its lowermost position and tile lever 10 is housed in its well 12, the top of the guiderod l-t is designed to be just flush with the floor 15, and the several parts maybe locked mechanically in such positions by applying a cap 16 to the floor over the upper extremity of such guide-rod and securing it place by means of a suitable belt or button, as 17, engaging aprojecting lug 18 upon said cap. The cap 16 being removed and the arm or lever 10 being thus allowed to drop into the position indicated in full lines in Fig. 1, the piston- 8 assumes its innermost position in the cylinder, into the lower end of which external water is allowed to follow said retreating piston, the reduced displacement caused by the receding of the piston and consequent forcing of the contents of the inner end of the cylinder inwardly into the compartment 6 producing a reduction of the space occupied by the boat, which is measured by the capacity of the open end of the cylinder in addition to the displacement of the hull proper, which subjects the boat to a corresponding loss of buoyancy. In this operative position of the forward and after arms or levers 1O the boat maybe ballasted to anydesired degree tained by reason of the momentum of the boat, thereby causing the advance of the piston 8 toward the open end of the cylinder 1, from which it forces the water, and thus temporarily increases the displacemen t of the adjacent portion of the boat by a like volume, which causes the rise of the boat until the arm 10 and its connected piston regain their initial operative relations, when the boat con tinues in the course thus assumed until similarly affected by the subsequent rise or fall of the said arm, its condition relative to buoyan cy being preferably so adjusted as to'maintain said piston normally in a position intermediate the ends of the, cylinder. It is obvi' ous that the roller 13, journalcd in the free end of the arm 10, may be dispensed with, thus causing the end of the downwardly-inclined trailing arm itself to drag upon the water-bed as a skate or runner in performing its normal function. In order to lift the arm- 10 from" its lowered operative position into manipulate the valve 3 in the pipe connections 4: and 5 to connect the pump 7 with the cylinder 1, v hen by actuating the pumpthe piston 8 can be forced outwardly, so as to bring arm into the level position, (indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) when it will be housed in its respective well.

It will be observed that the hydrauliceyh inder 1 and the system of piping and interposed pump perform the function of and collectively constitute a part of the ballast-compartment 6, and they are so considered in certain of the claims annexed hereto. It is, however, evident that this portion of the present improvement is not-limited to the particular manner of controlling the buoyancy and particularly of securing the variable displacement of the boat, whereby the result above described is attained, and such parts of the automatic apparatus for controlling the displacement are therefore immaterial to the essential feature of the device, which may include any means suitable for erforming the described operation.

It is-to be observed that the depending arm for controlling the buoyancy of the boat may be of any desired length, so as to determine the elevation of the hull above the water-bed, and that such a trailing arm, as 19 in Fig. 3, if suitably disposed to adapt it to be connected with a float 20 upon the surface will operate similarly to maintain the boat a uniform distance beneath the surface regardless of the condition of the water-bed or depth of water. It will be readily seen that by suitable manipulation of the waterballast compartments in connection with the automatically-acting device referred to the predetermined submerged position at which the latter normally maintains the boat may 1 its well 12, it is only necessary to properly As I believe myself to be the first to have devised a submarine boat provided with meansacting automatically and independently of the external water-pressu re for controlling the buoyancy of the normally buoyant bull to maintain it at substantially a predetermined submerged position intermediate the surfaces of the water and the water-bed and in a given relation in respect of one of said surfaces, either of which would constitute a guiding medium for such purpose, the language of the claims appended hereto directed to such feature of the present improvement is to be understood in its broadest sense to embrace all modifications'and equivalents of the specific devices herein shown and described for attaining this object,whether by controlling the displacement, and thereby maintaining the same at a uni form distance from either the surface or the water-bed, or by varying the contents of a water-ballast compartment or compartments under a predetermined maximum external water-pressure, as described in my application filed simultaneously herewith.

In practice the pump 7 serves an additional function to that above described in regulating the quantity of water-ballast in the several compartments through suitable connections with the exterior of the boat and the ballast tanks or compartments in a wellknown manner.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a submarine boat adapted to travel between the surface and the bed of the water, one of which limits constitutes a guiding medium therefor, the combination with the hull having water-ballast tanks or compartments and means for controlling the volume of water-'lmllast contained therein, of a trailing arm or lever pivotally connected with and projecting from said hull and vertically movable in respect. thereof with its outer end adapted to contact with one of said guiding mediums, auxiliary depth-controlling means for regulating the condition of submergence of said hull, and a connection between said auxiliary depth-controlling means and said trailing arm or lever whereby the descent ot the hull below or its ascent above normal relation with said "uiding medium :will cause the actuation of said auxiliary depth-regu lating meansto produce acontraryniovemcnt of said hull toward normal relation.

2. The combination with a submarine boat having a water-ballast compartment, a hylic cylinder open at one end to the exterior of the boat and a connection between the other end of said cylinder and said water-ballast compartment, of a piston fitted to said cylinder, a pivoted trailing arm depending from said boat and having one end adapted to contact with the water-bed and the other end connected with said piston, and provided intermediate thereof with a fixed fulcrum upon which the same is adapted to swin 3. The combination with asubmarine boat,

of means for automatically varying its displacement under conditions of submergence, and a device for mechanically locking said means in inoperative position when desired.

4. The combination with a submarine boat having a water-ballast compartment, of a plunger having one face presented to the interior of said compartment and the other face exposed to the exterior of said boat, a yielding pivoted arm depending from said boat and adapted to contact with the water-bed, a connection from said arm to said plunger, and an indicator connected to one of said movable members and extending into the interior of the boat to indicate the positionof said memher and the degree of variation of displacement of said heat produced by said parts.

5. The combination with a submarine boat having a waterballast compartment, of a plunger having one face presented to the intcrior of said compartment and the other face exposed to the exterior of said boat, a yielding pivoted arm depending from said boat and adapted to contact with the water-bed, a connection from said arm to said plunger, and

an indicator-rod projected inwardly from the inner face of the plunger into the interior of the boat, for the purpose described.

6. The combination with a submarine boat having a Water-ballast compartment, of a plunger having one face presented to the interior of said compartment and the other face exposed to the exterior of said boat, a yielding pivoted arm depending from said boat and adapted to contact with the water-bed, a connection from said arm to said plunger, an indicator-rod projected inwardly from the inner face of the plunger into the interior of the boat, and a cap or stop device for retaining said indicator-rod and attached plunger in fixed position.

Signed at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, this 6th day of Feb rua-ry, A. D. 1902.

SIMON LAKE.

Witnesses:

' L. 13. MILLER,

HENRY J. MILLER. 

